Chapter 21
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[MEMBERSONLY]
[NOCOPY]
SAVING KHUSHI
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Part 10
"Ye sarasar jhoot he, Rani Sahiba! Arnav is trying to malign me, defame my character!" Shyam stood up and shouted, pointing an accusatory finger at a calm & collected Arnav.
The family members looked from Shyam's impassioned features to Arnav's impassive face, their eyes wide, unable to believe that everything they had believed in for three years was crumbling before their eyes, the world they had created for themselves was falling in to ruins right before them. Anjali fell back against her chair, feeling her limbs tremble.
"Then what were a bottle of chloroform & a used cloth doing in your car on the night of the kidnapping, Mr. Jha?" Mr. Singhal asked softly.
Shyam looked at the man with overlong hair with venom in his eyes.
"Who the hell are you? Who are you to interfere in family matters? What are you doing in my house?" Shyam shouted at him. "And who gave you the permission to go sniffing in my car?"
"He is Mr. Singhal, a leading private investigator. I invited him here. This is not your house, Shyam. This is my house. And I gave him permission to 'go sniffing' as you so succinctly put it, in the car I paid my hard-earned money to purchase." Arnav said softly.
Nani looked anxiously at Anjali, and parted her lips to express her astonishment at the proceedings.
Mami looked at the determined faces of Arnav, Akash, & NK, and caught hold of Nani's hand and patted it, trying to calm her down and keep her silent. She realised that more things than were evident were going on.
"Rani Sahiba! Arnav is lying! He is trying to separate us!" Shyam bellowed, trying to turn his wife in his favour.
"Chotey..." Anjali whispered, not knowing whom to believe, torn between her husband and the father of her unborn child and her darling brother.
Arnav looked at his Di, pity in his eloquent eyes.
"Shyam Manohar Jha married you for your money, Di. He does not love you. Nor does he have it in him to respect our family or value the love and trust we gave him over the years. He fooled you, and he fooled all of us."
Anjali stared at him, unable to take her eyes off his face.
"Shyam Manohar Jha met Khushi in Lucknow. He helped her when goons tried to humiliate her on the street... because of me. He followed her to Delhi, found out where Buaji lived, approached Buaji and asked her for a room to rent."
All Raizadas gasped. This was news to NK & Akash too. Payal alone looked at the Guptas and Khushi, scared of the consequences of the disclosures to come.
Mami frowned, "So he was Madhumatiji's PG? But... but..." her eyes widened. "Khussi was engaged to her Buaji's PG!" She turned to look at Anjali & her Saasumma with wide, saucer-like eyes. "Aap ko yad he, Saasumma, when we went to asks for Payaliyya's hand, Madhumatiji tried to calls Khussi's mangetar to introduce him to us, but he was missing?"
"Manorama... Anjali Bitiyaa..." Nani whimpered.
Anjali looked at Shyam and at Arnav, shell shocked.
"He is lying! They are all lying!" Shyam shouted. "Rani sahiba, would I do something like this?"
Arnav disregarded Shyam's wail and corroborated his Mami's findings. "You are very right, Mami. His object was getting Khushi. He told Buaji that he was an orphan, and put himself out by helping them, acting like a part of their family. When Babuji fell ill, he used the chance to propose marriage to Khushi through Buaji. Khushi had no idea that the Shyam married to you was the Shyam who was panting to get engaged to her."
NK grit his teeth. Akash clenched his fists. By the time the day was done, he would level a facer to the cheap trickster with bigamous tendencies, he vowed.
"Chotey... what are you saying...?" Anjali breathed, the very foundation of her life shaking, in danger of toppling over.
"He is lying, Rani Sahiba! He wants to throw me out of RM, send me away from my rajkumari! He is lying!" Shyam protested.
Anjali looked at Arnav & Shyam, pulled between the two of them.
"Arnav Bitwaa is speaking the truth, Anjali Bitiyaa." Buaji said, her eyes full of pity for Anjali. "We had no idea that he was your husband. Never. It was when you invited Titliyaa to your Satyanarayan pooja that she saw your husband for the first time and realised the truth, Nandkisore!"
Anjali sat staring at Buaji.
"Khussi slapped him and threw his ring at his face. She came to your house the next day to tell you the truth, but... your mangalsutra broke and you became hysterical..." Garima explained.
Buaji sighed, "Hamara bhi galti he, Bitiyaa. We should have told you the truth, come what may. But... but how could we walk in to your house and destroy your happiness and peace of mind, Nandkisore!" She hit her head with her hand. Babuji nodded with difficulty, his eyes filled with tears.
"But it soon looked as though he had learned his lesson. He stopped running after Khussi and began to act like your husband. So we thought he had repented..." Garima sighed.
"But he continued with his harassment of Khushi till we got married. I found out about him...I saw him for what he was... on Akash & Payal's wedding night. I accused him of cheating on you, and he looked me in the face and gloated that he was going to leave you for Khushi." Arnav said, looking at the pale faces turned to him.
Mami's sharp intake of breath sounded loud in the room.
Nani & Mami caught hold of Anjali's hands to impart courage.
"I put up with him for your sake, Di. I realised that I had to keep him around at least till you were safely delivered of your child." Arnav let out a weary sigh. "I knew him for the immoral scoundrel he is, but did not realise that he was capable of kidnapping Khushi or planning my death after getting my signature on the documents... all for money..."
Anjali looked at Shyam with budding fear and repugnance in her eyes.
Shyam jumped up in panic.
"They are all lying, Rani Sahiba! They are all hand in glove to break our family... my rajkumari..." Shyam tried to persuade his wife that he was whiter than white, as pure as the driven snow...
"Di..." Khushi said softly, "Di, I swear on my Devi Maiyya that every word that Arnavji said now is the truth and nothing but the truth."
Anjali looked at her, feeling her head spin.
"She is lying! She has been trying to attract me, lure me, seduce me..." Shyam was at the end of his tether. "Sharam karo, Khushiji. You are lying about a devoted husband and father!" he accused Khushi.
Mr. Sharma said softly, "You contacted Lallan, a goonda, and asked him to supply you with 5 men and a woman to guard a kidnapped Khushiji. The guards, headed by a small-time crook named Rocky, sat guard over the victim at a dilapidated house in a deserted location in Pahadganj..." He gave the requisite details. "Khushiji escaped from there. Rocky & the others gave her chase."
"What nonsense are you spouting?" Shyam thundered.
"Rocky, Lallan... have you been watching some third-rate Bollywood movie for inspiration?"
Mr. Sharma smiled. "You don't know them?"
"Of course not! Who the hell are they?" Shyam was the picture of affront, innocence under pressure.
"As to that, you will know better. We are just getting to know them." Mr. Sharma said pleasantly.
Shyam frowned.
"They are all in our custody... that is police custody..." Mr. Sharma explained.
Shyam paled.
"And they are singing like birds... We have your phone records, Mr. Jha. All the calls to Rocky's & Lallan's phones have been noted. Their timing & duration match the stories told by the arrested." Mr. Sharma was all smiles.
"They are lying... they..." Shyam began.
"Why should they lie about a man they don't know, who doesn't know them?" the policeman asked. "Their ransom call to ASR's phone too has been investigated. And policemen witnessed your meeting with Lallan in the dilapidated house in Pahadganj after we picked up the kidnappers."
Anjali buried her head in her palms. Mami and Nani put their arms around her.
Arnav looked at his Di, feeling his heart weep for her.
"Di, when you met him at a temple, fell in love with him, and told us that you wanted to marry him, none of us raised an issue about the fact that he was a penniless lawyer, an orphan with no known relations." Arnav said softly, looking at Nani & Mami.
They nodded.
"We wanted you to be happy, Di. We saw Shyam through your eyes, as a noble man, a man of character. He made a fool of you, Di, and he fooled us too." Arnav stated.
"Chotey..." Anjali wept.
"I am sorry, Di, but Shyam Manohar Jha is immoral, a crook, a greedy and money-hungry leech." Arnav made his opinion very clear. "He has no place here anymore."
"Acha? I don't have the right to stay here? Who are you to decide where I will stay or not? Arnav Singh Raizada!" Shyam bit out, his hatred a live thing for everyone to see. "You are very loquacious when insulting me, Saale sahab! Who are you? The immoral son of an amoral father!" Shyam turned to look at the Raizadas gathered around him. "Do you know what your dear 'Chotey' has done? And what kind of girl your Khussi Bitiyya' is?"
All looked at him, wondering what he was going to say next. Arnav gently touched Khushi's knee with his, signifying that she remain calm for the next few minutes.
Shyam lifted his office bag that he had left on the floor and placed it on his lap. He frowned. How come it was open? The zip had been torn away, leaving the bag gaping.
He put his hand in to his bag to pull out the contract marriage document. His fingers touched his journal, but no papers. Not the contract marriage document, not the legal papers he had stored in his bag... All papers were missing...
Shyam upturned the contents on to the low table in front of him. No papers at all. Just his diary, his pen, his keys...
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